In the first part of this episode, I have the privilege of speaking with Kristen Swanson, the co-founder of the Edcamp movement.  We talk about her previous experience as a teacher and tech director, as well as her current work as an author, consultant, professor, and Director of the Research Institute at BrightBytes (whew!).  In between everything else, I learn that Barcamps are like Edcamps but for coders, and that these were an inspiration to get Edcamps going.  For a great place to learn more about Edcamps, especially if you want to run your own, head to edcamp.org and click on the book below.

For the second part of the show, I speak with Michelle White, who is the Director of the Passport to Innovative Education Program at The Summit in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Summit is graciously hosting EdCamp Fort Wayne this summer on July 23.  

Click the image below to learn about this program.

Click below to register for EdCamp Fort Wayne 2015! It's FREE!

I've been politely bothering Sharon to be a guest on Principally Speaking for awhile and we were finally able to connect.  Sharon is a Special Education Teacher as well as the Technology Director for Eagle Hill Southport School which is located in SW Connecticut.  It's very clear that everything she does at Eagle Hill is centered around helping students and I really appreciated her perspective on teacher leadership.  She's also an expert on using the iPad to assist students with special needs.  Finally, be sure to check out her podcast Learning Differently.  It was great to hear her latest episode with Jeffrey Benson, who was an early guest on Principally Speaking.  

Sharon's Website: The Road to Learning

Sharon's Podcast: Learning Differently

Connect with Sharon on Twitter

I connected with Riley Johnson last year at EdCamp Fort Wayne.  Last year, Riley left Indiana for the Assistant Principal position at New Tech High School in Napa, California.  He will be taking over as Principal this summer.  I'm grateful to have a dynamic leader in my professional learning network going through the same transition as myself.  

Riley's Twitter

Paul Solarz is a 5th grade teacher in Arlington Heights, Illinois.  I really enjoyed hearing about his dynamic student-centered classroom and I think you will too.  Check out his new book Learn Like a Pirate if you want to "Empower Your Students to Collaborate, Lead, and Succeed."  You can connect with Paul on Twitter @PaulSolarz and he can also be found at the #learnLAP and #tlap hashtags.